Horizontal earth boring machine



April 13, 1954 A. E. POOLE ET AL HORIZONTAL EARTH BORING MACHINE I5 Sheets-Sheet l Filed April 15, 1951 April 13, 1954 A. E POOLE ETAL l 2,675,213

HORIZONTAL EARTH BORING MACHINE Filed April l5, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 FVG. 2

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April 13, 1954 A. E. POOLE :TAL 2,675,213

HORIZONTAL EARTH BORING MACHINE Filed April 13, 1951 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 1N V EN TOR. MEL V//V (A916, '4977400 p0 0.a@

Patented Apr. 13, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HORIZONTAL EARTH BORING MACHINE Arthur E. Poole, Long Island City, and Melvin B. Kirk, Oceanside, N Y., assignors to The Hallen Company, Inc., Long Island City, N. Y., a, corporation of New York Application April 13, 1951, Serial No. 220,914

3 Claims. l

This invention relates to horizontal earth boring machines and more particularly to an improved boring head for such a machine.

In earth boring machines as heretofore proposed, it has been found that some dimculty is encountered in the use of such machines under operating conditions which involve the presence of large boulders or stones in the earth through which such a machine is operated and so located as to be encountered by the cutting or boring head of the machine. When such a stone or boulder, too large to be passed through the machine and too hard to be broken up by the cutting implements of the machine is encountered, the operation of the machine is stopped and cannot be resumed until the boulder is broken up or removed. This is frequently diiiicult to accomplish as the horizontal bore or tunnel may be made under an important highway, a railway or other industrial establishment which cannot be conveniently interrupted to provide a way to reach the boulder from outside of the tunnel. The boulder cannot be conveniently reached from within the tunnel since the machine does not provide for access of workmen to such a boulder through the tunnel itself.

It is, therefore, among the objects of the invention to provide a machine having an improved earth boring head and which is power operated and hydraulically equipped to rapidly bore a substantially horizontal tunnel through a body of earth and continuously flush the earth borings from the tunnel; which machine also includes a tubular casing or shell providing a liner for the tunnel and a boring bit extending through the casing and which can be removed from the casing to provide a passage to the closed end of the tunnel while leaving the casing in place to support the earth through which the tunnel has been driven, a cutting head or cylinder detachably journaled on the front end of the casing so that the casing can be of a uniform diameter and can be separated from the cutting head to facilitate the withdrawal of the casing in either direction from a completed tunnel, and a boring head which is releasably connected to the cutting head or cylinder so that the boring head can be released from the cutting cylinder and withdrawn from the casing, and also power operated means for feeding the machine at various selectable speeds into a body of earth in which a tunnel is being driven and an assembly of working parts securely locked together in operative relationship while the machine is in use.

Qtber objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the following description and the appended claims in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a fragmentary rear portion of an earth boring machine illustrative of the invention, a portion being broken away and shown in cross section to better illustrate the construction thereof;

Figure la is a longitudinal medial cross sectional view of a fragmentary front end portion of the machine, the rear end portion of which is illustrated in Figure 1, the front portions of the machine being shown in operative association With the earth;

Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of the machine illustrated in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse cross sectional view on an enlarged scale on the line 3-3 of Figure la;

Figure 4 is a transverse cross sectional view on an enlarged scale on the line 4 4 of Figure 1a Figure 5 is a front elevational view on an enlarged scale of the front end portion of the machine illustrated in Figure la;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on the line 6-6 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on the line I-'I of Figure 2; and

Figure 8 is a fragmentary cross sectional view on the line 8-3 of Figure 5.

With continued reference to the drawings, the machine has a power plant assembly, generally indicated at IB, and comprising an elongated, rectangular frame I I having spaced apart side members supported in substantially parallel relationship to each other by cross members connected between the side members at locations spaced apart longitudinally of the latter, an engine I2, such as an internal combustion engine, mounted on the frame I I near one end of the latter and provided with a cooling radiator I3 and enclosed in a hood I4, a change speed transmission unit I5 extending from one end of the engine, a gear I6 supported on the drive shaft I'I and driven by the transmission unit I5, an engine driven water pump I8 mounted on the frame, and an engine driven winch I9 mounted on the frame adjacent the engine radiator I3 at the end of the frame remote from the gear I6.

A cable 20 is wound at one end on the drum of the winch yISI and the operation of the winch is controlled by a clutch mechanism loperated by the hand lever 2 I.

An auxiliary transmission 22 is driven from the drive shaft I1 and connected to the winch III! by a jointed shaft 23 and worm gear assembly K Yframe and being provided with apertures for a purpose to be presently explained.

The power plant assembly is mounted on an elongated tubular body or casing 28, such as a Vculvert section, near one end of such body. They saddle plates 26 and 21 extend over the top portion of the tubular casing 23 and U bolts 29 and 30 extend around the under portion of the casing, the U bolt 29 having its ends inserted through the apertures in the saddle plate 25 at the opposite ends of the latter, and the U bolt 30 having its ends inserted through the apertures in the saddle plate 21 at the respectively opposite sides of the tubular casing. Nuts are threaded onto the U bolts at the upper sides of the saddle plates Vto irmly clamp theY power 4plant onto the tubular casing.

An elongated tubular stern 3 l, such as a section of tubular drill stem, extends coaxially through the tubular casing 23 and projects from the opposite ends of the latter.

The portion of this shaft 3i within the tubular casing or culvert section 28 is journaled in spiders, as indicated at 32 and 33, disposed at spa-'ced apart intervals along the shaft and the tubular casing.

Each of the spiders 32 and 3S comprises an inner bushing or race 34 surrounding and secured on the shaft 3 i, a bearing sleeve or collar 36 surrounding the bushing 34 and circumferentially spaced therefrom, antifriction bearing elements 3l operatively disposed between the bushing 341 and the sleeve or collar 36, tubular legs projecting radially from the collar 3S, plungers slidably mounted one in each tubular leg andk rollers carried one by each plunger at the outer end thereof, engaging the inner surface of the tubular casing 2d and movable longitudinally of this casing.

In the arrangement illustrated, each spider has three tubular legs, as. indicated at 38 3S and ill! for the spider 33, spaced at substantially equal angular intervals of 12.0 degrees around the collar 35. rlhe interiors or bores of the legs 35i, 39 and 49 are of noncircular and preferably rectangular cross sectional shape, and plungers M, d2 and 43 are slidably received in the legs 3B, 39 and il@ respectively. Rollers lli, i5 and 46 are disposed at the outer ends of the plungers di, 42 and :i3 respectively, and journaled in the corresponding plungers. These rollers bear against the inner surface of the casing 28, as explained above, and are rotatable about axes lying in a plane disposed transversely of the casing and substantially Iperpendicular to ther longitudinal center line thereof so that the rollers will roll longitudinally of the casing.

Two of the plungers are adjustably secured to the corresponding legs and the third plunger, such as the lplunger 2, is resiliently urged outwardly of the corresponding leg 39 by a compression spring 4l disposed in the leg and interposed between ther plunger and the surface of the bearing collar 36 within the hollow leg 39.

The spiders maintain the tubular shaft 3l1 accurately centered in the elongated tubular casing 23 and provide for rotation of the shaft within the casing and movement of the shaft longitudinally of the casing to permit moving the Y shaft into and out of the casing.

A bearing collar 4S receives the shaft 3e at a location spaced from the endof the tubular body 26 on which the power plant;` assernbly l0 is mounted and this collar i8 is secured to the frame .Il Vof, the power plant assembly il] by bracket arms projecting substantially radially from the collar iand detachably secured to the side members of the frame by suitable means, such as the bolts i3 and 50.

The inner surface of the collar li is stepped, as is particularly illustrated in Figure 7, providing spaced apart annular shoulders against which the antifriction thrust bearings til and 52, disposed inthe collar 15, abut. The end portion of the shaft 3i is correspondingly stepped, providing annular shoulders against which the antifriction thrust bearings abut for transmittingl thrust from the collar lit to the shaft 30 in adirection to urge the shaft toward the end ofthe tubular casing remote from theend of the casing on which the power plant assemblyiil is mounted. It is to be noted that thebracket, including the collar i8 and associated bracket arrns, is detachable from the power plant frame-,by removing the bolts e9 and E@ whenever it is desired t0. remove the shaft 3c from the casing. Y 1,

The bearings 5l and 52 are retained in the bracket collar 3 in properly spaced relationship to each other vby Suitable means, such as the spacer ring 53 disposed between the outer races of the antifriction bearings and the ange plate 5d secured to one end of the collar 48 and marginally overlying the outer race of the bearing 52.

A gear 55, larger than the gearriS, is secured on the shaft 3l adjacent the bracket collar 48 and meshes with the gear I6 so that the shaft 3i will be rotated when the gear I3 is driven by the engine i2 through the transmission mechanisin i5.

A hydraulic swivel connector 56 is mountedon the end of the shaft 3l adjacent the bracket cole lar 43 in communication with the bore di of the shaft, and a tubular, flexible conduit 53 connects this swivel connector with the outlet of the Water pump i8 for forcing water at high pressure into the bore of the hollow shaft. A conduit 59 leads from the intake of the pump i8 to some.

suitable water supply. 1 j

A cutting head or cylinder, generally indicated` at Se, isV journaled on the end of the tubular casing 28 remote from the power plant assembly lil. This cutting cylinder comprises a pair of cylindrical bodies 6! `and 62 coterrninously arrangedrwith the body 62 disposed within the body Si and circumferentially spacedV therefrom `toprovide between the two; cylindrical bodies an annular space receiving the adjacent end portiony of the casing 28. The space between the cylindrical bodies 5l and 52 is open at one end and closed at the other end and an annular seriesof spaced apart cutting teeth S3 is providedon the closed end of the cuttingY cylinder and project longitudinally of the latter. An; antifriction. thrust bearing E4 is disposed between the. cylindrical bodies lv and 62 at the closed end ofthe annular space between these bodies and bears against the adjacent end of the casing 28 to provide an. antifriction bearing between .the end of the casing and the cutting cylinder 60.

It will be noted that the-'outside diameter of the cylinder 6|) is slightly greater than the outside diameter of the casing 28 and that the outside diameter of the series of cutting teeth 63 is the same as the outside diameter of the 4cut-- ting cylinder, so that the bore cut through the earth will be slightly greater in diameter than the outside diameter of the casing 28 to facilitate movement of the casing into and out of such a bore.

A boring head, generally indicated at E5, is mounted on the end of the shaft 3| remote from the bearing collar 48 and is rotatable with the shaft.

This boring head comprises a cylindrical sleeve or hub portion SS secured at one end to the corresponding end of the shaft 3| and radially projecting arms, as indicated at 61, 68, 69 and 'l0 in Figure 4, extending from the hub 66 to the inner cylindrical body E2 of the cutter cylinder 60.

The inner cylindrical body 62 of the cutting cylinder is thicker than the outer cylindrical body 6| and is provided in its inner surface with spirally disposed key grooves as indicated at 1l, 12, I3 and lil, equal in number to the number of boring head arms projecting radially from the boring head sleeve 66. The arms 61 to I0 inclusive are received at their outer ends in corresponding grooves 'H to lli inclusive to provide a driving connection and a releasable lock between the boring head and the cutting head or cylinder. The grooves 7| to i4 inclusive are olfset in the same direction circumferentially of the cylindrical body 62 at the ends of the grooves adjacent the cutting teeth t3 of the cutting cylinder, so that the grooves have a somewhat bayonet slot shape. The offset of the grooves is in the direction of rotation of the boring head during the boring operation of the machine, so that the boring head and the cutting cylinder are securely locked together during the operation of the machine and are both driven by the shaft 3|.

In order to release the boring head from the cutting cylinder it is necessary only to turn the boring head through a small angle in the reverse direction and then move the boring head relative to the cutting cylinder in a direction such that the outer ends of the boring head arms move through the corresponding grooves in a direction away from the cutting teeth 63 of the cutting cylinder.

With the bracket collar 48 disconnected from the frame and the swivel connector 5B disconnected from the shaft 3|, by freeing the boring head from the cutting cylinder in the manner explained above, the shaft tI together with the shaft supporting spiders and the boring head can be pulled out of the tubular casing 28 leaving the interior of the casing unobstructed. As the casing 28 will ordinarily be of a size to permit a man to easily crawl through it, if a large boulder is encountered by the cutting end of the machine while driving a tunnel, the shaft 3| and boring head of the machine may be removed from the casing and a workman may then move through the casing to the location of the boulder at the front end of the casing where he may work on the boulder with pneumatic tools to break up the boulder mechanically or to set an explosive charge in the boulder which, upon explosion, will reduce the boulder to fragments of a size to pass freely through the machine.

The arms 61 to 'HJ inclusive of the boring head are somewhat skewed circumferentially from the position of true radii olf the sleeve 66, as shown in Figure 5. and are also inclined somewhat outwardly and rearwardly relative to the hub;` as shown in Figure 8. They are preferably of parallelogram or trapezoidal shape with cutting edges along at least their forward edges. Each arm is provided with a longitudinally extending bore, as indicated at I5 and 'It in Figure 8 for the arms 68 and 10, which bores communicate with the bore 57 of the shaft 3|, and are provided near the outer ends of the arms with laterally extending ports, as indicated at Tl. With this arrangement, water forced under pressure into the tubular shaft 3| by the pump it through the swivel connector 5B will flow out of the ports connected to the bores in the boring head arms and will wet the earth adjacent the boring head, softening the earth to facilitate the action of the boring head and ilushing the cuttings rearwardly along the interior of the tulbular casing 28. i

A two-bladed bit 18 is secured at one end to the front end of the hub 66 of the boring head and projects lforwardly of the hub in longitudinal alignment therewith. A bore 19 through the base portion of the bit admits water from the bore of the shaft 3| to the earth in contact with the bit '18.

Helical auger sections, as indicated at and 8| in Figure la, extend around the shaft 3| one between the boring head and the spider 33 adjacent the boring head, and one between each two adjacent shaft supporting spiders. These auger sections assist in moving earth 'cuttings and debris rearwardly from the boring head and nozzles, as indicated at 82 and 83, extend rearwardly and outwardly of the shaft 3| at spaced apart locations along the shaft and are in communication at their inner ends with the shaft bore 51 to direct jets of water against the material in the tubular casing and assist in flushing this material rearwardly of the casing and out of the rear end of the latter.

In order to place the machine in operation, a trench or excavation is first prepared and its bottom edge made substantially horizontal at the level of the bottom of the desired tunnel. The machine is then lowered into this trench and the cable 20 is reeied off of the winch I9 and the end of the cable remote from the winch is secured to a xed object, such as the anchor or deadman 35, secured in the ground ahead of the boring machine. The anchor S5 is displaced to one side of the machine so that the torque developed by the machine will ibe balanced by the angular position of the cable. With the power plant in operation, the transmission unit 22 is then operated to provide the desired speed of rotation of the winch i@ and the transmission unit I5 is operated to provide the desired rotational speed of the shaft 3|, boring head |55 and cutting cylinder (it. As the cable is reeled in on the winch I9, the machine will now be forced into the earth at the end of the trench, cutting a tunnel through such earth.

A trench or excavation is provided at the location of the desired opposite end of the tunnel and, when the boring head and adjacent end of the casing reach this last mentioned trench, the power plant assembly may be removed from the casing by releasing the U bolts 29 and 3!! and the conduit 58 from the swivel connector 56 and pulling the shaft and boring head out of the casing. The cutting cylinder 6U may then be removed from the front end of the casing and the casing left in position in the tunnel to provide a permanent lining therefor.

7 'When it is desired to drive a new tunnel, the power plant assembly, shaft and boring head assembly and the cutting cylinder are assembled with a new section of culvert to reestablish Y the boring machine.

The invention may be embodied in other specie forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is, therefore, to beconsidered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are, therefore, intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:

1. In a horizontal earth boring machine including an elongated tubular leasing, a power plant assembly mounted on said casing near one end thereof, a boring head disposed at the other end of said casing, a shaft extending through said tubular member and connected at one end to said boring head, means providingr a drivingr connection between said power plant assembly and said shaft at the other end of the latter, and means connected to said casing and driven by said power plant to feed the machine into a body of earth, bearing means receiving said shaft at said other end of the latter and detachal'oly secured to said power plant assembly providing alV thrust connection between said power plant assembly and said shaft, a cutting cylinder journaled on said other end of said casing and relceiving said boring head, and means releasably connecting said boring head toV said cutting cylinder whereby said boring head and said shaft can be removed from said casing without removing the casing from a tunnel in which the casing is received, said cutting cylinder comprising an outer cylindrical body receiving said casing at said other end of the latter, an inner cylindrical body disposed within said lcasing and secured to said outer cylindrical body outwardly of said other end of the casing, and an annular series of Ycutting teeth on the ends of said cylindrical bodies disposed outwardly of said other end of the casing, said boring head comprising an elongated hub and arms projecting outwardly of said hub at angularly spaced apart locations therearound, and said cutting cylinder having grooves in the inner surface thereof` receiving the outer end portions of said arms to releasably secure said boring head to said cutting cylinder.

2. In an earth boring machine including an elongated tubular casing, a power plant assemblyv mounted on said casing near one end thereof, a shaft extending coaxially through said casing, means drivingly connecting said power plant assembly to said shaft at said one end of the casing,

thrust bearing means detachably secured to said power plant assembly and receiving the adjacent end of said shaft, and means connected to said casing and' driven by said power plant assembly to feed said casing longitudinally into a body of earth, a cutting cylinder journalled on said casing at the other end of said casing and having an internal diameter less than the internal diameter of said casing, a boring head mounted on the end of said shaft remote from said thrust bearing means and disposed within said cutting cylinder, and means connecting said boring head to said cutting cylinder for rotation of said cutting cylinder by said boring head and for movement of said boring head out of said cutting cylinder in a direction toward said thrust bearing means whereby said boring head and said shaft can be moved out of said casing through said one end of the casing upon disconnection of thev shaft driving means, and the removal of said thrust bearing means from said power plant assembly.

3. In an earth boring machine including an 'elongated tubular casing, a power plant assembly mounted on said casing near one end thereof, a shaft extending coaxially through said casing, means drivingly connecting said power plant as- .,sembly to said shaft at said one end of the casing, "thrust bearing means detachably secured to said power plant assembly and receiving the adjacent end of said shaft, and means connected to said casing and driven by said power plant assembly to ,feed said casing longitudinally into a body of earth, a cutting cylinder journalled on said casing at the end of said casing remote from said thrust bearing means and having an internal diameter less than the internal diameter of ,said casing and having in its inner surface rangularly spaced apart grooves extending longitudinally thereof from the end of said cylinder nearest said thrust bearing means to locations intermediate the length of said cutting cylinder, and a boring head mounted on the end of said shaft remote from said thrust bearing means and disposed within said cutting cylinder, said boring head having angularly spaced apart arms, the outer ends of which are received in the grooves Vin said cutting cylinder to provide a rotational driving connection between said boring head and said cutting cylinder while providing for move-Y ment of said boring head out of said cutting cylinder through the end of said cutting cylinder nearest said thrust bearing means whereby said boring head and said shaft can be moved through said one end of the casing upon disconnection of said shaft driving means and removal of said thrust bearing means from said power plant assembly.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,881,101 Spaulding Oct. 4, 1932 2,165,666 'Iilly July 11, 1939 2,196,260 Gatto Apr. 9, 1940 2,588,068 Williams et al Mar. 4, 1952 

